An Obscure Gem of a Nonprofit

March 21, 2013

The Morning Heresy is your daily digest of news and links relevant to the secular and skeptic communities.

Emily Willingham at Forbes: Be watchful for panicky stories about how there are more folks with autism than we thought:

. . . if you look at the numbers and the report itself, you’ll see that overall, the numbers of people born with autism aren’t necessarily increasing dramatically. It’s just that we’re getting better and better at counting them

. . . atheists and believers can be “precious allies” in their efforts “to defend the dignity of man, in the building of a peaceful coexistence between peoples and in the careful protection of creation.”

Aww, the pope once had a crush. (Oh, and could maybe-possibly-kinda might be open to changing celibacy rules for priests.)

Julie Mankowski at the On Campus blog wonders what the hell we seculars should say when people sneeze. It's a great post, ruined for me by the inclusion of a comedy clip from Dane Cook. But I forgive her.

UN religious freedom chief reacts to a report of Iran's oppression of Baha'is, calling it "one of the most obvious cases of state persecution."

Political Research Associates releases a report on "religious liberty" as a cover for curtailing civil rights. (PDF)

I feel like every few months we get another Voyager-has-left-the-Solar-System story, and here's another, to which NASA says, "It is the consensus of the Voyager science team that Voyager 1 has not yet left the solar system or reached interstellar space."

The American Academy of Pediatrics' new policy, published online Thursday, cites research showing that the parents' sexual orientation has no effect on a child's development. Kids fare just as well in gay or straight families when they are nurturing and financially and emotionally stable, the academy says.

Committee of the Alabama legislature approves an amendment to its constitution that would allow the display of the Ten Commandments. Really earning their pay, those folks.

I am damn sorry. If I could repeat the evening, I would make a clearer distinction between a set of beliefs I abhor, and my human sympathy for the folks who hold them. I say this not because I want to look better. I have no wish to hide my faults, and – clearly – I couldn’t if I tried.

When I wed a couple, I am not acting as the agent of a church. My legal authorization came from the Commonwealth of Virginia via the Circuit Court, and without it, I had no legal standing whatsoever to wed couples. Just being a “preacher” does not authorize one to be a legal officiant in Virginia. That’s significant, folks. It means that, in truth, marriage is a civil business. It is a matter of state law. And the officiant — judge, marriage commissioner, minister/priest, whoever — is an agent of the state.

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Linking to a story or webpage does not imply endorsement by Paul or CFI. Not every use of quotation marks is ironic or sarcastic, but it often is.

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Paul Fidalgo has been communications director of the Center for Inquiry since 2012. He holds a master’s degree in political management from George Washington University, and has worked previously for FairVote: The Center for Voting and Democracy and the Secular Coalition for America. Paul is also an actor and musician whose work includes five years performing with the American Shakespeare Center. He lives in Maine with his wife and kids. His blog is Near-Earth Object, and he tweets at @paulfidalgo.